Jon recalls driving through Castroville, CA ("Artichoke Center of the World") one spring, when he encountered the annual Castroville Artichoke Festival. "The artichoke, for such an unlikely-looking food item, is widespread and adapted among so many cultures and cuisines around the world, it's startling," he observes.

Greg and Jon discuss a 2013 New York Times article by Kenneth Chang titled "More Helpful Fatty Acids Found in Organic Milk." Chang writes: "Whole milk from organic dairies contains far more of some of the fatty acids that contribute to a healthy heart than conventional milk." Greg distinguishes between omega-6 fatty acids, which abound in the typical American diet, and o

Beef stew with rice, onions, bacon, tomatoes and cheese: that's the basis for Julia Child's recipe for "Boeuf À La Catalane," or Catalan Beef Stew. It became the jumping-off point for an adaptation by Greg one night as he improvised on this "hearty dish from the Spanish Mediterranean corner of France," with "a green salad, French bread, and a strong, young red wine" the recommended accompaniment.

Jon and Greg speculate that widespread under-appreciation of parsnips is due to their resemblance to "an anemic carrot." Jon recalls the sweet and flavorful parsnips kept buried in a box of soil in the root cellar by his gardener father, the taste of which approached the mythic sweetness of mature parsnips left in the ground all winter. Greg suggests roasting them, puréeing with potatoes, deep-frying them as chips, or including them in a recipe for root-vegetable custard.